1. Law and Justice Around the World / CRIM 405.003 / Prof. Andrew Novak

2. 




Placing imprisonment in context
The problem of prison conditions: What harm
does it cause? (Thailand video clip)
Women in prison (South Africa video clip)
Private prisons: What role should there be?
(Oklahoma video clip)
Prison reform: Hope for resource-constrained
legal systems? (India video clip)

3. 




Today, imprisonment is the paradigmatic criminal
punishment around which all of the world’s
correctional systems are built
While prisons have existed for centuries, they were
typically holding tanks for other criminal punishments
and not punishments in themselves until after 1800
Replaced transportation to a penal colony and
punishments of the body as typical punishment
In most of the world, imprisonment is entering a
period of crisis as more crimes are punished, and
punished more harshly
Virtually every country in the world wrestles with
prison overcrowding and conditions

4. 
Our model countries:
 United Kingdom
▪ Highest number of inmates in Western and Northern Europe
▪ Development of independent monitoring boards composed of
volunteers, which visit prisons and report on conditions and
crowding situations
 France
▪ Persistent problem of lengthy pre-trial detention (characteristic
of civil law countries)
▪ Lags behind rest of Europe in promoting alternatives to
incarceration
▪ Development of “corrections judges” to hear prisoner
complaints and conduct tours

5. 
Our model countries
 Germany
▪ Extensive use of rehabilitation programs; clear leader in
Europe of alternatives to incarceration
▪ Progressive penal philosophy characteristic of Northern
Europe
▪ Inmates have access to courts and special panels hear
grievances
 Saudi Arabia
▪ Because of dominant retributive philosophy, prison
conditions are poor and oversight is minimal
▪ Highest prison rate (out of 100,000 people) of any of the
model countries, but much lower than the United States (173
out of 100,000 versus 730 out of 100,000)

6. 
Our model countries
 China
▪ Emphasis on prison labor in all forms of incarceration; serves
both rehabilitative and propaganda purposes
▪ Administrative detention: allow brief periods of
imprisonment for minor crimes without trial
 Japan
▪ Individualized treatment includes strong emphasis on
rehabilitation
▪ Problems of prison gangs, mistreatment of prisoners
▪ Imprisonment is considered disgrace to family and
community and is a highly exceptional punishment (by far the
lowest prison rate of our model countries, 55 per 100,000)

7. 
United Nations “soft law” documents
 Example: UN Standard Minimum Rules for the
Treatment of Prisoners (1955)

“Bangkok Hilton” – Bang Kwang Prison in
Bangkok, Thailand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFo8P7R
G5Fw

8. 



Recent concern over the special problems facing
incarcerated women, including 2010 approval of
the UN’s “Bangkok Rules”
One example of the special problems faced by
women in prison settings: What should we do
with incarcerated women with newborn or
nursing infants or very small children?
Most countries (but not most of the United
States) allow very young children to remain with
their mother in prison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K40gc6XC3
c

9. Private prisons: correctional institutions that are
operated by private firms under government
contract
 In the United States, abut 4% of prisoners are
held in private prisons, most run by the
Corrections Corporation of America or the GEO
Group (formerly Wackenhut Corp.)
 Operating in many Western countries, but
unconstitutional in some
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwTk2E8S78


10. 



Resource-constrained legal systems,
especially in the developing/postcolonial
world, face crisis most acutely
African Prisons Project:
http://www.africanprisons.org/
International Centre for Prison Studies:
www.prisonstudies.org
India video clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaLzI3aN
NWU